


Coming Clean

by appease



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Planet, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, An entire 20k words about Keith without his POV, Confessions, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Getting Together, Journey to Earth, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Allura (Voltron), POV Alternating, POV Lance (Voltron), POV Shiro (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 06, giraffe monsters, laundry in space, living out of the lions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 15:44:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18641137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appease/pseuds/appease
Summary: “Who did the laundry on the castle?!” Lance asks in despair as he catches his breath. “We always just put stuff in that chute in the bathrooms and boom, it magically appeared like an hour later! I am not crazy for thinking they just cleaned themselves.”“Maybe Coran knows? He did the maintenance on the castle, he’s gotta know something,” Hunk says.“Great, okay. Let’s go ask Coran,” Lance says, peering around the rock Hunk had dragged him behind. Allura, Romelle and Coran were digging through some boxes that Kosmo was quickly piling up around them. Of all the things that Lance had yet to get used to about the Older, Cooler, Bigger Keith, having a teleporting wolf pet was probably the easiest because he seemed like a moon moon sort of guy. Good thing Kosmo was way cooler than that.More importantly though there was no freaking way he was going over there to assault Allura with his stench.-During an increasingly tense journey back to Earth, the team decides to make a pit stop on a nowhere planet to do some laundry, restock supplies and get some fresh air. Keith makes an important decision.





	Coming Clean

Lance stares into the vast expanse of space. The vast expanse of space stares back. Lance scratches his nose in the reflection.

Quiznak, traveling by lion is tedious. They’ve been at it for three weeks and he doesn’t think he can handle another  _ day  _ of this, much less another  _ year and a half _ . Decaphoebs. Whatever. He loves Red and know Red loves him back (right buddy?) but he doesn’t think Red likes the equivalent of walking through space either. He thinks some of his boredom might actually be feedback from Red.

“I’m bored,” Romelle says dramatically and slumps against the console to his right to sit on the floor. Or maybe not. Lance isn’t sure how he ended up with her today - or what hour marker counts as a day. Kosmo had blipped her over mid-sentence and refused to come back. Keith said he was napping.

“Yeah well I’m hungry and we’re like out of food. Anyone got anything stashed away they haven’t shared yet? Otherwise lunch is going to be crumb surprise,” Hunk answers over the comms before Lance can respond. He glances at Romelle and shrugs.

“Want to find somewhere to land?” he asks.

They had packed as much food as they could into the lions when evacuating the castle, but with nine people to feed, plus Kaltenecker, the mice and Kosmo, it went fast. They’ve landed a few times on lonely planets to stretch their legs or get some downtime where they weren’t having to, as Pidge had called it, sleepfly, but now the rest stops were becoming food hunts too.

“Yeah,” Pidge yawns over the comms the same time Allura chimes in with an emphatic “ _ Yes _ .”

Keith doesn’t respond. After a pause, Shiro does.

“Sounds like we’re looking for a stop then.”

“Great, awesome, I’ll keep an eye out,” Hunk says.

A couple of hours and some dead moons later and Hunk announces a possible landing option. Not two seconds later Keith gives the green light, and they make their descent through an actual atmosphere. It’s a small planet in a dual sun system with a moon but all Lance cares about is that it has a breathable atmosphere, they aren’t going to fry or freeze to death the moment they land, and it has dry land and water. It also has no people, so that’s an added bonus of not being shot at.

His standards of living have gotten waaaay lower over the past couple of weeks.

That’s confirmed when they land because holy crap this place is bright and humid.

“Freedom!” Pidge yells from somewhere to his left and Romelle whoops and jumps from Red. Lance blinks spots out of his eyes and wanders over to Hunk, who’s sniffing the air with a weird look on his face.

“Yeah, I didn’t see an ocean either but it smells like salt, right?” Lance asks and Hunk breaks into a coughing fit.

“Yeaaaaah. Salt. Yep, that’s totally what it smells like, you’re right,” Hunk says and backs up a few steps. Lance blinks.

“You okay there buddy?”

“All right everyone,” Keith calls, grabbing their attention. “We’ve got a few vargas to find supplies. Keep your communicators on, don’t go too far, and stay in contact. Just because there’s no signs of life doesn’t-“

“-mean there aren’t any giant alien monsters that want to eat us for dinner,” Lance interrupts with an eyeroll. “You sound like a flight attendant giving the same speech every flight.”

“Oh my god Lance can you just shut up,” Keith bitches back and glares at him like somehow that will make him feel bad.

“What?! It’s true!”

Keith pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Okay,  _ fine _ , split up. Who’s doing what? Coran, Hunk, what do we need?”

“Food,” Hunk says the same time Coran adds “Water.”

Everyone startles and looks at Coran in surprise.

“I thought the lions recycled water?” Pidge asks hesitantly.

“Well, yes, but we’ll need to replenish our supplies if we’re, er,  _ staying here _ , any length of time,” Coran says with air quotes.

“Wait, what?” Allura asks. “We haven’t- oh.  _ Oh _ . Oh dear.”

“What?” Lance asks in bewilderment and Pidge snaps her fingers in an ‘aha!’ gesture.

“He means if we pee outside the lions we lose that water.”

They share a collective awkward pause.

“Right,” Keith says clearing his throat. “Water and food.”

Hunk volunteers himself and Lance to go foraging, which yay because Hunk was a great cook and they needed all the food they could get, but also because that mostly involved him being on the lookout for any danger while Hunk scanned every available plant, fungus, alien space thing and mostly stationary wildlife in the immediate area for edibility. Not too bad a job.

It’s a shame Allura decided to stay back at camp. During their second stop they discovered the hard way that there always has to be a paladin with the lions in case of emergencies.

Lance pulls out his bayard and trails after Hunk, feet slipping on wet gravel. They decided to check out the rocky area first before heading into the forest. He’s checking out some suspiciously polka-dotted fern-like leaves when Hunk ducks behind a large boulder.

“Hey, wait up!” Lance jogs to follow him but stops short when he almost runs into Hunk face-first.

Hunk makes a face and steps back.

“Hey man so don’t take this the wrong way, but you reek,” Hunk says, holding his nose and standing two arm lengths away.

“Huh?” Lance blinks at Hunk before it sinks in. “Wait, what?! I do not!”

“You totally, totally do.”

Oh no. Hunk has his diplomatic face on. “I do not! … do I?”

Lance quickly glances around just to make sure no one else can see and pulls at the neck of his paladin under armor to take a sniff. Regret is swift and punishing.

“Oh god I do stink. What the hell!” Lance is disgusted. He’s disgusting. No wonder Allura kept glancing his way. “How did I not notice this?!”

“Being in space kind of messes with your sense of smell. I had to adjust recipes based on what ingredients tasted like when we were on land versus the castle,” Hunk says, like it’s common knowledge. “Soooo it definitely probably isn’t that bad when we’re cooped up in the lions.”

“Now I know you better than to ask if you’ve bathed,” Hunk gives Lance a Look, which Lance Returns with offense, and he takes a deep breath behind his hand before continuing. “But have you aired that thing out like, at all?”

Lance pauses.

“I thought the armor, like, magically stayed clean or something. Like how the lions repair themselves,” he says slowly.

Hunk stares at him.

“They don’t do that, huh?”

Hunk slowly shakes his head.

“Well then great. How do I clean this thing then?!” Lance feels itchy. He’d been stewing in his own dead skin cells for three weeks and now he knows about it.

“I don’t know,” Hunk says.

“You don’t know.” Lance leaps forward and grabs ahold of Hunk before he can escape and sniffs, inhaling the aroma of stale sweat and rock fungus. He gags.

“I told you!” Hunk yells as Lance stumbles away, heaving for air. As bad as Hunk smells, Lance has to admit that he’s worse.

“Who did the laundry on the castle?!” Lance asks in despair as he catches his breath. “We always just put stuff in that chute in the bathrooms and boom, it magically appeared like an hour later! I am not crazy for thinking they just cleaned themselves.”

“Maybe Coran knows? He did the maintenance on the castle, he’s gotta know something,” Hunk says.

“Great, okay. Let’s go ask Coran,” Lance says, peering around the rock Hunk had dragged him behind. Allura, Romelle and Coran were digging through some boxes that Kosmo was quickly piling up around them. Of all the things that Lance had yet to get used to about the Older, Cooler, Bigger Keith, having a teleporting wolf pet was probably the easiest because he seemed like a moon moon sort of guy. Good thing Kosmo was way cooler than that.

More importantly though there was no freaking way he was going over there to assault Allura with his stench.

“Er, you go ask Coran and I’ll trail behind you. Don’t want to offend anyone else’s delicate sensibilities,” Lance says. He can feel Hunk rolling his eyes behind him.

“Yeah right, you just don’t want Allura to know you stink,” Hunk says. See, Hunk understood him. That’s why they were friends.

“Yep.”

Lance turns to gesture for Hunk to go ahead for their return to camp, forgetting his bayard is in rifle form. The tip catches on the boulder, which pushes the handle harshly back into Lance’s stomach as it snags his belt at the same time and he trips, stomping into a puddle of mud that defies gravity as it splashes all the way up to his face.

Ugh.  _ Ugh. _

“Well,” Hunk says. “Now we have an excuse. Now let’s go find some food.”

“But I’m a gross disaster!”

“I’ve got news for you buddy, you’re always a disaster.” A beat. “Maybe not usually so gross, though.”

“Gee, thanks.”

\--

This is a disaster. A teetering, chaotic, mess.

“Coran-“

“What’s going on?” Shiro asks from behind her and Allura barely manages not to leap into the air by sheer force of will.

“Shiro! What are you doing up?”

Shiro blinks at her, then at the latest crate that Kosmo has added to their growing tower. It’s beginning to list to the left a bit.

“Kosmo took half my bed.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. What’s… all of this?”

“We’re looking for some plersitan,” Coran calls from where the top half of his torso is buried in a box of metal parts and… pillows? Who did this?! He surfaces from the chaos with a spring in his mustache. “I thought it would be with the lens cleaner, but it’s nowhere to be found! I know we packed some, but where? None of this makes sense!”

Allura gestures to her upper lip and Coran takes the hint, finding the spring and casting it into the box.

She, Coran and Shiro had stayed behind while the others went off to find supplies. Krolia marched Keith off to hunt, Lance and Hunk went to gather non-moving food, and Pidge and Romelle went on-foot to locate the nearest water source. With everyone else gone it was a good opportunity for her and Coran to locate the much-needed items they had packed, and for Shiro to rest. Or, it was.

Kosmo blinks back beside them with another crate that hits the ground with a soft whump, pauses to acknowledge Shiro with a tail wag, and blinks back out of existence.

“What’s a plersitan?” Shiro asks.

“An incredibly potent garment cleaner! Useful in times without a nanowash available, which… exploded with the Castle,” Coran says.

“Oh, you mean laundry detergent,” Shiro says.

“Laundry?” Allura asks.

“It’s dirty clothes. Or, well, cleaning dirty clothes,” Shiro says. “Are we doing laundry? Because I think I’m fusing with the armor at this point.”

“You’re what?!” Allura exclaims in surprise. She didn’t know humans could do that!

“Not- no, no not literally I’m fine, it’s just, laundry’s a great idea,” Shiro corrects.

Oh. Well, she’s glad it’s nothing serious.

A crash startles them. They turn to see a crate has fallen off the pile of boxes it was precariously stacked on, a corner now embedded into the ground. The tower has righted itself, it seems.

“Em. Since you’re up, would you like to help us search?” Allura asks.

Shiro sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Sure.”

They quickly form a rhythm, Coran and Allura placing boxes upon the ground and opening them while Kosmo stacks more crates and boxes in a pile. Shiro follows, labeling containers and recording their contents with a datapad scan.

She’s sweating under her armor when she stumbles across containers from Blue’s cargo. She opens a box to find an image of them, all of them, together and smiling standing in the Castle’s bridge, staring back at her. It’s from phoebs ago, right before the big fight with Zarkon. It had been Coran’s idea, to capture their time together before what they hoped was the end of the war. After they survived, or so she had thought, Coran gifted her a still image of the recordings they made.

Homesickness washes over her in a wave. Once missing Altea and her family was the worst that could happen, but the absence of the Castle gnaws at her soul like a Snizzlebat beetle, anger about Lotor’s betrayal taking root in the growing holes. If it wasn’t for her stupid mistakes, she would still have the Castle, her room, the tangible spaces where she followed in her father’s actual footsteps. The only thing she had left after losing everything, and now she’s lost it too.

But, she’s lucky this time. She still has Coran, her friends and the lions, still together and making their way through the universe. Her friends who have saved her from her mistakes too many times to count.

She gently closes the box and reseals it, labeling it as hers. She knows the rest of its contents, there’s no need to record them. Kosmo blinks another box beside her and stops for a pat on the head.

“Aha! Here it is!” Coran calls from across camp, holding a large orange bottle above his head.

“Here what is?” Pidge asks, announcing her arrival as she walks into camp with Romelle.

“Welcome back, number 5! We found garment cleaning agent!”

“Oh, thank the stars, we can finally clean our clothes!” Romelle exclaims and rushes forward to see the prized bottle Coran holds while Romelle drops the load of firewood she had been carrying. It’s an impressive amount for one person to hold.

“What did you find out about the water source?” Shiro turns to ask Pidge.

“It’s a pretty big river, we can definitely refill our supplies,” Pidge says, dropping the bag of alien flora she collected under Green. “Kinda weird at the lack of wildlife though. You’d think a planet like this would be teaming with creatures but… it’s just plants and bugs. Tiny bugs.”

“Hey hey, guess who’s back with dinner!” Hunk calls and everyone turns to see him and a- a bipindog?! No wait, that’s a helmet under all that gunk. Is that mud-covered creature Lance?! Good heavens. He must  _ hate _ it. Kosmo sniffs, whines, and blinks away.

“Lance! What happened?!”

“This planet happened,” Lance responds miserably and dumps the pile he’s carrying. “Don’t say it, I know I look like a swamp creature. In fact I’m pretty sure all of you but you especially Allura should like, keep your distance.”

“What?” Allura blinks. Why just her?

“Lance smells like a skunk convention held in a gym locker room catered with durian,” Hunk says and more gently places his pile as Lance keeps his distance. “But anyway, we found some awesome tubers and fruit and greens and stuff. But there wasn’t a big supply of anything, so we’re gonna have to find another location on this planet if we want to stock up on supplies because it took a while to find enough for everyone.”

“Did you see any animals or animal-like things?” Pidge asks.

“Not really, which is weird, right? Just like some bugs and a few flying things that I’m pretty sure are this planet’s version of birds.”

“Look this is great and all, scientific research yay, but did you have any luck with water because I need to like, bathe for a thousand years,” Lance says holding his mud-caked arms out.

Oh no. Hunk is right, she can somewhat smell the stench from here. She blanches and holds her hand in front of her nose and mouth. Lance notices with a cringe, puts his arms down and backs away under the shade of Red.

“You’re just in luck! We found garment cleaner and can finally clean that armor of yours. Well, all of ours. Now if we can discover how to use it, we’ll be ready to go!” Coran says brightly.

“Are there any instructions?” Allura asks Shiro. He blinks and stares at her, uncomprehending. Oh. She gestures to the datapad and he seems to get it, and hands it to her instead so she can do the search herself.

“It says here that we need a nanocontrol interface,” Allura sighs. “Well, we don’t have one of those.”

“Why don’t you look that up and see what it requires?” Pidge suggests.

That’s a good idea. Allura pulls that up next.

“We need a strong source of UV light, nano-scubbers, instructional code, water…” Allura trails off, wondering where they can find those components stored in the containers they’ve uncovered so far.

“Wait, you need nano-scrubbers to clean clothes?” Romelle asks. “Are you  _ joking _ ?!”

“What?! I am not, it says right here-“

Romelle groans, and Allura fights a brief flash of frustration at the interruption. She’s only trying to help.

“Look, all you need is water and something to scrub it with, why try to build a spaceship to wash clothes? Wait, don’t answer that,” Romelle says when Hunk opens his mouth to respond. “Are you telling me none of you have cleaned clothing in your life?”

They glance at each other uncertainly.

“I always got out of doing laundry at home because mom said it was too much work fixing the ‘folding disaster’ afterward,” Pidge says. “And we had a washing machine.”

“Same, minus the folding part,” Hunk says. Shiro nods and glances at his metal shoulder.

“It looks as if you’re our garment cleaning expert, Romelle,” Allura says. “We are trusting in your capable hands. What should we do first?”

\--

Lance is banished to a shower before he’s allowed back into everyone else’s company, which is super okay with him because he’s never felt so gross in his life. But he knows he didn’t take a long enough shower for the camp to be mostly deserted when he reemerges, carrying his paladin armor under suit at an arm’s length with a metal rod because there’s no way he’s touching that with his hands again.

“Where’d everyone go?” Lance asks Coran, who’s poking a growing fire, dressed in his pajamas.

“Clothing change, put that over there,” Coran gestures to a pile where the others have added their dirty clothes so far. “Ah, this reminds me of my time in the jungles of K'kr'rrkrung. Alone for almost a phoeb, I hunted my own food, washed my own gear in small pools. It took a few quintants to start a fire thanks to the water rain and humidity, so imagine my relief when I found enough shelter to do so!” He sighs wistfully. “I must say, having company is a vast improvement even if the humidity’s almost as thick.”

Lance nods. Being alone for a phoeb sounds lonely. Coran finishes whatever he’s doing to the fire, which does seem larger now, and gives Lance a shrewd look while stroking his mustache.

“Going with that look, eh?”

“Huh?” Lance asks ineloquently.

“Oh, nothing, it’s just is this the time? With everything that’s just happened?” Coran asks mildly.

Lance blinks at Coran, stumped, and looks down at his swim trunks.

“What do my swim trunks have to do with anything? They’re the only thing I have clean.”

Coran pauses.

“Oh! Keith’s back!”

Lance turns over his should to see Keith and Krolia walking toward camp.

“Great, our fearless leader is back,” Lance sighs.

“Don’t give him such a hard time,” Coran chides. “Time dilation is a messy business, and he’s been dealing with a lot between Shiro and his mother. It must be jarring to return after decaphoebs and be thrust back into being Black’s pilot. He’s still acclimating.”

“Yeah, well, I wish he’d acclimate faster,” Lance says and watches as Kosmo pops into Keith and Krolia’s paths to greet them. “Which is weird because he was piloting Black and leading Voltron before Shiro, uh, sorta came back.”

Lance still can’t believe they never noticed that Shiro was gone. Like  _ gone _ , gone. Shiro tried to  _ tell  _ him and it wasn’t enough. And to add insult to injury, somehow Keith comes back and immediately fixes everything, because not only were they apparently not good enough friends to Shiro, they also needed their asses saved and  _ Keith _ was the only one who could do it. The same Keith that now no longer jokes around or gives Lance a hard time.

Coran nods.

“Be patient.”

They are, as Keith and Krolia walk into camp empty handed. Keith stops dead in his tracks and gapes at the tower of crates stacked behind Lance and Coran.

Oh yeah.

“Welcome back!” Coran greets with a wave.

“What the hell,” Keith starts. “Did you just- is that  _ all _ of our cargo?!”

“Yep! We had an important item to find. It’s, as you humans call it, laundry day!” Coran says with a flourish, gesturing to the steaming tub he and Allura had filled with water and set over an energy source to manage the temperature. Lance will never be over how absurdly strong Alteans are.

“That’s so dangerous, what if we have to leave suddenly, we could lo-“ Keith starts and Krolia lays a hand on his shoulder. He snaps his mouth shut and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Okay. Okay. I can deal with this. We’re putting it back when?”

“Dude, chill out, Coran and Shiro are doing a whole inventory system thing so we don’t have to do this again,” Lance says, trying not to let aggravation through his voice.

That seems to mollify him and Keith nods, mostly to himself.

“Good thinking, thanks.”

“Where is everyone?” Krolia asks, changing the subject.

“Changing clothes! We’re gathering our dirty garments to wash. Go change and bring your items out.”

Krolia and Keith blink, and look down, then at each other.

“I didn’t… grab anything else from the Castle,” Keith says slowly. “I have my Blade of Marmora uniform and the armor, but mom doesn’t have anything else. Neither does Shiro.”

“That’s okay Keith, I’ll go see if there’s something I can borrow,” Krolia says. “Why don’t you wash up, change into the Blade uniform and let Coran wash the armor?”

“Oh no, not me! I have been banned from all laundry related activities,” Coran says cheerfully. “So have Allura, Shiro and Pidge.”

“By who?” Krolia asks.

“Romelle,” Lance answers.

Krolia nods as if that was a smart move. It’s awkward enough at the prospect of Romelle washing his underwear, much less  _ Allura _ . Lance has long accepted that being part of Voltron also means being incredibly close to your teammates, like family, but even he has limits sometimes.

“Yeah… okay, I’ll uh, go change,” Keith says and Kosmo blips him away to what Lance assumes is Black. Who knows, at the rate Kosmo goes he could be in a box somewhere. Krolia looks confused for a moment as if wondering where her ride is, but when Kosmo doesn’t come back, she shrugs.

“Coran, we look to be around the same height. Would you by any chance…?”

“Oh! Yes certainly, I still have some things clean,” Coran tugs at his mustache in thought. “It might be easiest if you choose from what’s available in Blue, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, thank you Coran,” Krolia says and Coran stands up to help her.

“Lance, why don’t you help organize boxes or take Red to go refill our water supplies?” Coran suggests.

Lance tilts his head up to look at the tower of boxes behind him. Nope, not touching that.

“Water,” Lance says, turning back to them. “I’ll go get some water, great thinking Coran.”

“Make sure you take someone with you, we are on the buddy system!” Coran says and Krolia nods. “Yes, we must stay together at all times-“ she adds and Lance is about to interject that he is not stupid, thank you, please stop giving him that speech “-maybe you should ask Allura? She may want to go.”

His argument dies on his tongue. That’s a great idea. That’s a  _ fantastic _ idea. He ignores Coran’s indignant squawk.

“Yep, waiting for someone to go with me, got it!” Lance all but salutes as Coran breaks in with a “now wait just a minute-“

Krolia grabs Coran’s shoulder and forcibly marches them toward Blue to get a change of clothes. Huh, he wonders what that’s about. Oh well, since everyone else is busy there’s not much to do other than wait and keep an eye on the fire. He’d bring out Kaltenecker or the mice to stretch their legs but after a close call on planet No. 2, it was decided that for everyone’s safety they had to stay in the lions at all times until they reach an actually known, safe location. It sucks though, because he knows he’d hate being stuck in Red for days or weeks on end.  

It’s so hot here. He can already feel himself beginning to sweat under the sun and he fans himself with his hand like it’ll make a difference if he concentrates real hard. It’d be nice to take a swim while refilling their water supplies. Maybe Allura will be up for one too and join him. Wearing a swimsuit. A form-fitting one.

He loses track of time for a moment or two imagining having fun with Allura at the beach at home. Teaching her how to surf and make sand castles. Eating cold ice cream while lounging on the sand. Watching her dive into the waves and resurface with a sweep of her hair behind her. In slow motion. While the sun glints off her- Keith. Keith?!

“GAH!” Lance shouts in surprise.

“AHHH!” Keith yells inelegantly in response two inches from his face were Kosmo delivered him.

Lance flails and Keith catches him in the chest, sending him sprawling backward against the boxes, which shudder with an ominously loud groan.

“Watch out!” Keith shouts and yanks Lance toward him as his stomach drops and time blinks out of existence to rearrange itself on the other side of camp beside Red. A heavy crash sounds across camp.

“Holy shit!” Lance shouts with Keith still three inches from his face. Keith glares and shoves him away and Lance stumbles but does not fall this time. He looks over his shoulder back where he was standing to see a crate halfway embedded into the ground. Another sits next to it, sad smoke wafting up around it from where it snuffed out the fire.

“Kosmo!” Lance shrieks and turns to the wolf, who tilts his head at him, does some weird wolf facial expression and blinks out of existence. “H-hey, come back here!”

“Are you okay?” Keith asks.

“He almost killed me!”

“He saved you,” Keith says, like he wasn’t almost squashed too. “We would’ve been fine if you hadn’t freaked out. You need to be more careful, you shouldn’t have stacked the boxes that high anyway-”

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not like I expected someone literally appearing right before me in my  _ breathing space _ ,” Lance seethes back.

Keith opens his mouth to retort but stops, then seems taken aback.  

“Sorry, his aim isn’t always the best. We’ll uh, work on that.”

Wait. What? That’s it? His adrenaline leaves him in a rush and Lance slumps.

“Thanks,” Lance says and rubs the back of his neck. “For that.”

Keith awkwardly adjusts his feet, not quite shuffling but obviously uncomfortable.

“Yeah.”

Why is this so hard now? Was it ever easy? Lance glances back at the crates. There’s not even any smoke now.

“Guess we need a new fire,” Lance says.

Keith lends a hand in starting a new one this time, silently breaking sticks. They don’t necessarily  _ need _ a fire, but Hunk swears fire means better flavor when cooking outdoors and, so far, he’s been right every time. Besides, it’s kind of nice to have something to gather around to be together as long as the smoke doesn’t attract anyone to their location. Luckily it looks like it won’t be a problem on this planet.

It’s weird, Keith isn’t brooding per se, Lance is used to that, but he’s just. Quiet. Lance doesn’t do well with quiet.

“Sooo…” Lance starts and Keith raises an eyebrow. He fumbles for what to say. “How’s Shiro?”

Keith looks at him in confusion. “Why aren’t you asking him?”

“Because you’re here and he’s not, and Shiro’s kinda extra in that he never admits when he’s not doing great,” Lance says. “And he’s been riding in Black with you.”

“Oh. Uhm, good, I guess. I think? He seems more… himself, real self,” Keith says and looks off to the side like he’s thinking about something. 

“That’s good, right?” Lance asks.

“Yeah,” Keith says and hesitantly nods, and goes back to chopping the firewood Romelle collected with his bayard.

They spend the rest of the time in silence, and Lance is just adding the last of the firewood to their newly lit fire when Keith makes a weird choking noise next to him. He’s about to ask him if he’s okay when he follows his line of sight to see Shiro standing at the bottom of Yellow’s ramp wearing only a pair of Hunk’s pajama pants cinched around the waist. They’re both way too big and kind of too short at the same time.

“Looks like they found something for Shiro-“ Lance starts to say but abruptly stops when he sees how red-faced Keith is and how far his expression has fallen. Is he okay?

“Lance! Keith! What happened?!” Allura calls, hurrying down Blue’s ramp toward them. Lance turns toward her voice and time slows down to molasses, his answer dying in his mouth as his tongue gets stuck. Allura’s wearing her house robe, which would be super normal, except the closer she gets it’s clear she’s wearing  _ nothing else _ , it’s all legs for days and he tears his eyes up to her face only to pass by cleavage and- he can’t-

“Water. I’m going to go get water.”

Lance spins on his heel to walk,  _ not run _ , to Red.

“Wait- Lance!”

Keith runs to catch up and skids to a stop in front of him.

“Take me with you. Buddy system.”

Lance nods.

\--

Steam steadily rises from their communal vat of sudsy, soaking garments, somehow adding to the moisture in the already humid air. Romelle and Krolia seem to be taking it in stride, agitating the garments periodically with long rods, but Allura pulls at the collar of her robe and hikes the bottom up a little more. She wishes she was decent enough to open it up farther, but it was the only thing she had clean other than the sleeping garment Romelle was borrowing, so she had to make do. The cooling fan that Pidge and Hunk set up for the camp was allowing her to bear it without adjusting into something more suitable for the environment.

It's a bit odd that Lance and Keith left so quickly. It’s disappointing, she’d hoped to spend some time together as a team now that everyone’s in one place. Were they that low on water that they needed to go so soon? She’s felt strangely lonely for a few quintants, even when sharing close quarters with Coran and Romelle in Blue.

She peers over Shiro’s shoulder at the cargo inventory list and organizing system he’s compiling with Coran for want of something to do. She’s restless and bored, but it’s too warm for her to do anything about it even if it does give her mind time to wander.

They’re hiding from the light in the shade of Blue, directly in the path of the fan with Kosmo sprawled out on his back at their feet. Everyone is taking refuge in what shade they can, unusual for the humans in the group. It seems like this would be the perfect opportunity to naturally recharge their nutrient levels, a fascinating quirk of human biology that requires them to expose their skin to certain light wavelengths most commonly found in yellow stars like their home world’s. Once she and Coran had discovered this as the reason for the others’ lethargy and crankiness, they had installed simulators in the Castle’s lighting system to noticeable improvement. Without the simulators, they must rely on worlds like this one to ensure everyone is healthy. She wonders how often humans bask in the light on earth.

“Shiro, why are you sitting in the shade? Don’t you need to recharge your energy?”

“Recharge?” Shiro pauses and blinks up at her, then at Coran who leans in and takes the datapad from him to continue sorting.

“Yes, without the light simulators we installed onboard the Castle, don’t you need – oh.” Shiro, this Shiro, the real Shiro, wasn’t there for that. Her face must betray the reason for her hesitation because Shiro’s expression falls into a complicated dance of pain and regret. “Oh Shiro, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize – my apologies.”

“It’s all right, Allura. This is an adjustment for all of us,” Shiro says gently. How he can be so calm about dying and being brought back to life, she doesn’t understand, and she felt his soul as it coursed through her veins. Was it something to do with his time in Black? When the rest of them die, will they also become one with their lions? Is her father part of Red even now?

“Yes, most of all you, Shiro.” Allura has already apologized for overlooking his strangeness. They all have. But it doesn’t feel like enough. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, Allura. Just tired.” Tired is a complicated word for humans, she’s learned. “Being alive is a new experience every day.”

“Sensory overload?” Coran asks placing a friendly hand on Shiro’s newly expanded metal shoulder.

“Something like that. Anyway, Allura, back to your original question. Do you mean vitamin D? If so, sunlight is a balance for humans. Too much can cause burns for someone with lighter skin like myself. It’s so bright here I only need a little, but thank you for the reminder,” Shiro pats Coran’s hand and he removes it, a lingering glance on the remains of Shiro’s metal arm. Allura has been mulling over possible replacements as it seems to cause inconvenience, even if Shiro does not display outright discomfort. It’s devastating how something so simple had been the cause of Shiro’s pain for so long and no one had noticed. Like no one had realized a member of their little family was missing. She wonders sometimes if things would have been different if Keith had stayed. Now she understands he was grieving, and the clone of Shiro returning was, perhaps, too much.

She may not be able to fix all of her wrongs for trusting Lotor, but she has a second chance here.

“That seems… needlessly complicated,” she says instead.

Shiro laughs. “It is.”

“Shiro, what do you think about hosting the equipment that can’t be broken down in Black’s cargo hold? It has the most interior room, but I understand it may be tight due to extra occupants,” Coran asks, pulling Shiro’s attention back to the task at hand. Allura leaves them to it.

She reclines and watches what everyone’s doing around camp instead. Hunk’s checking on dinner’s progress over the fire, Pidge and the mice are resting under the shade of Green while browsing a datapad, Romelle and Krolia are taking a break under Black, and Lance … is still not back. Wait a tic.

“Shiro,” Allura says slowly. “How long have Lance and Keith been gone?”

\--

Red sears behind Lance’s eyelids, shut tight against the glare of twin suns beating down on his face. He’d feel like he was slowly being baked alive if it weren’t for the occasional water splash. He’s definitely going to have a sunburn. It’ll be a nice complement to the bark burn on his back from the log he’s strapped to. But he’s glad he’s not Hunk, or he’d been seasick 15 minutes into their kidnapping.

Red was also who he wishes would come save him right now. It stung there was no response, not even to begging and a pretty please. He can’t believe Red just sat there and watched them get kidnapped and didn’t do anything. He’s disowning his lion.

He’d quit trying to wiggle free of the ropes a while ago when it became apparent that whoever these guys were, they were very adept at tying knots. And kidnapping Voltron paladins. Being tied to a log and floated down a river was low tech but surprisingly effective.

They’re surrounded by an escort of floating armed locals who ignore all attempts at conversation. The locals are reptilian and come in a rainbow of colors, sunlight glinting off iridescent skin and feathers visible between plates of armor. The shade of mauve the alien to the left of Lance is sporting looks nice.

The longer they’ve traveled, the more civilization has slowly revealed itself hugging tight to the water’s edge. Thick, maroon vegetation curls over the tops of brown, squat structures with wide, arched windows facing the sun. Locals stop to stare at them as they float past. They don’t look advanced enough to be running signal interference, but all alien technology looks weird so who knows.

They need to get the heck out of here and leave the planet. Maybe once they get to their destination they can profusely apologize and escape with a 50/50 chance they do so peacefully or with an angry hoard hot on their heels.

“Lance?” Keith sounds concerned from somewhere over to his right. Lance sighs.

“When we get back, I’m telling Pidge she needs to fix her scanners, because this looks like civilization and she distinctly said there was no civilization,” Lance says.

Keith groans in frustration.

“Can you please just tell me what you were doing that got you attacked in the first place? Because I told you to stay close and you  _ didn’t _ .”

“The same thing you were doing, running away.”

“I meant before we got attacked,” Keith says like he’s trying to be patient.

“Keith, my man, I was trying to slide out of camp and you decided to join me the moment Shiro stepped out of Yellow. We were running away.”

Keith starts to argue then snaps his mouth shut with an audible click. Lance pries an eye open to glance to his right just in time to see Keith’s mournful face bobbing in profile. He looks flushed. Maybe from the sun? But that mournful expression is something that Keith’s been wearing often since the Fight. It’s replaced the battle with Zarkon as the fight with the capital F in his mind.

“I mean, thanks? That you’d rather hang out with me? Because I am awesome, but it also feels like you’re avoiding us,” Lance says.

“I’m talking to you right now,” Keith says.

“Uh huh,” Lance says. “You’re only talking to me to argue about it and also you’re stuck.”

Keith groans. “Oh my god Lance, can you please focus for once in your life so we can try to find a way to escape-”

“And now that I think about it, you keep making this weird face around Shiro and-“

“LANCE,” Keith shouts so loud it echoes, their abductors momentarily going silent. 

Geeze, testy.

“Fine, fine, dropping it.”

Lance shrugs it off and focuses on listening in as the chatter around them resumes. The locals must be well-trained, they’re doing a good job of not saying anything important within earshot.

Lance glances back to his right and fights a brief flash of annoyance. Shiro isn’t the only one Keith has been acting odd around since his return, he’s also caught him emoting at Allura’s back several times when he’s not avoiding her too. He wonders if it’s because of Lotor. Keith might feel guilty at leaving Lotor behind, but Lance sure as hell doesn’t, not after how he betrayed Allura’s trust. Keith didn’t see the full extent of the damage done because he had chosen not to be there.

No, Keith peaced out then showed up months later out of nowhere to save them all – three inches taller, quieter and sadder. It was the last two that left Lance feeling wrongfooted, like it negates his right to be annoyed or angry with him. This conversation is the most words he’d shared with Keith about something not Voltron- or mission-related in months and Lance has done most of the talking. Did Keith think about them at all in a non-mission context in the actual two decaphoebs he was absent?

After Keith demanded to join him, they had traveled in awkward silence to the river’s edge in Red, only broken by Keith giving directions to their location. It was only a short flight, and once they got there it looked as devoid of intelligent beings as Pidge had described. Lance had found a spot along the bank that was just large enough to fit Red in, and landed. They wanted to make sure they weren’t sucking up any wildlife or causing damage before refilling their supplies, so Lance had hopped out of Red against Keith’s protest to take a look around.

It was surprising how fast they were kidnapped. He’d only been out of Red for a minute, maybe two, when some locals emerged from the vegetation like the worst surprise birthday party ever and began accusing him of trespassing in raspy voices and clicks. Or, that’s what the language implant Allura had given them made it sound like.

“They jumped me when I got to the river’s edge, yelling about trespassing until you swooped in,” Lance answers.

Literally, Keith had flown in hanging off a tree vine and swinging his bayard. The situation went from a 10 to a 100 real quick, from Lance trying to diplomatically back away to running for his life from 20 or so angry armed people. They’d almost managed to get away when they’d gotten caught in a net trap, their bayards confiscated, and promptly trussed for transport.

“Which, ONCE AGAIN, I am HAPPY TO LEAVE,” Lance yells hoping someone other than Keith listens. “You can even have my friend here, just take me back to shore!”

“Hey!”

“Oh yeah like it wasn’t your fault for making the situation worse.”

“Like you were handling it  _ so well _ .”

“How was I supposed to know anyone lived on this planet?! I offered to leave! No attempts on our lives were made until you showed up swinging your bayard!”

“You’re right, I should have just let you get captured and spared myself the torture of listening to your big mouth. I will not attempt to save your dumb ass next time.”

“I didn’t ask for your help!”

“Good thing I won’t help you again then!”

“GREAT. That’s great. I am so glad we got that ironed out!”

“ _ You’re welcome _ .”

Frustration stings behind Lance’s teeth. He’d shove Keith if he could get an arm free. He struggles anyway and is rewarded with bobbing up and down.

“God, I don’t know why I missed you! You’re such a pain.”

At that moment they crested a wave. Water splashed over his head and he heard Keith sputter to his right. He craned his head up as much as he could to see where they were going but the angle was impossible. It felt like they were going faster even though the river was wide and mostly calm, wider than anything he’d seen except for maybe documentaries on earth, and civilization was denser here. He turned to Keith – wait, is their escort getting larger?!

It definitely is, and it’s clear they’re floating closer to a town when Lance struggles to raise his head a couple of inches to see what he can. The buildings are taller here, interspersed with roads and paths, pressing in close to the river, which laps at their foundations. People stream from crowded shores into the water in rafts, small boats and canoes. Every bit of space is occupied by gawking onlookers eager to find out about the two tall, leggy aliens being floated down their river, and more stare out of windows and doorways.

“Wow, that’s a whole lot of aliens,” Lance comments in awe. What the buildings lack in color the locals make up with, a rainbow of people glittering under the sun.

They’re jostled as their guards press in closer with their canoes. Lance lets his head fall back with a thud and turns toward Keith again, who’s trying to watch where they’re going with some creative head angles. Lance already tried doing that, it’s really hard to breathe while doing it.

“Looks like we’re headed to a castle,” Keith rasps out before relaxing to take some deep breaths.

“I never knew how accurate that ‘take me to your leader’ joke was before Voltron,” Lance says. “Okay, game plan, we meet the leader and play nice, which means you keep quiet and let me do all the talking, so we can get our butts out of here in one piece because we cannot fight off like hundreds of armed reptilian toddlers.”

Keith wants to argue, Lance can see it on his face, but he sighs and relents.

“Fine.”

“Wait, that’s it? You’re not gonna argue?”

“No. You’re right, we can’t fight this many people in their territory,” Keith says. “Our best bet is stalling until the others can find us.”

“Great,” Lance says. “Just follow my lead.”

Just like Keith said, they’re taken to a castle. The trip there however is a blur as they’re paraded, still horizontal, through what Lance assumes is the main road of the city. It’s a bumpy ride, and after being in the relative silence of the river other than their guards, it’s a cacophony of sounds with conversations, shouts, and the sounds of people going about their day. He feels pressed in on all sides by eyes, endless eyes as they pass countless people. It shouldn’t even be possible to fit that many people in one place when the buildings look like they’re only three, maybe four stories high at most, according to the height of their inhabitants.

He’s no longer side-by-side with Keith, who’s being paraded behind him he assumes, he hopes.

“You okay back there?!” he shouts just to make sure.

“Yeah,” Keith shouts back and Lance experiences the tiniest flash of relief at not being separated. “Just trying to hang on.”

Lance doesn’t get much time to reflect after that. The buildings part as the road opens up to a large square and the crowds become a sea of people. Their captors-slash-guards start yelling for the crowd to move back, and Lance is thankful he and Keith are tied up as they tilt this way and that as their escorts weave and push them through. He has way too many close calls with elbows and has to close his eyes and pray they arrive in one piece.  _ Please don’t tear us apart and eat us _ .

It’s a relief when they arrive in the shade of what turns out to be a tall, spired structure that’s not so much a building as it is an endless layer of tiers.

“Okay, yep, that’s a castle,” Lance shouts over the crowd roar.

“I told you,” Keith shouts back and Lance is glad to know he’s still alive.

While the castle may be large, it’s still built on the proportions of the people who built it, which Lance finds out the hard way when the guards get to the doors. The doors are too short for the logs they’re strapped to, and it takes some creative angles and Keith bumping his head on the doorway with a loud grunt for them to get inside.

“I now appreciate what it’s like to be a couch,” Lance announces solemnly the moment he and Keith are successfully through the doors. No one laughs. Lance is offended.

They’re carried down what Lance guesses is a grand hallway - it’s definitely high enough for him to stand upright in and reach up and not touch the ceiling, which must be super impressive for this planet. Intricate, colorful mosaics line the ceiling, full of scenes of battle and birds that kind of look like spaceships. But despite the grandeur everything seems kind of ill-kept. There are smudges of something that might be soot on some of the art, shutters hang unevenly from windows and vines creep in corners.

Lance is interrupted by his musings when the guards decide it’s time they should be tied up upright instead of lying down, and the world spins as Lance is suddenly staring at a small figure wearing a green robe carrying a packet full of paper scrolls. They’re standing a few steps down from an empty throne of bone and flowers and flanking green robe on both sides are guards equipped in sleek, black armor who look totally nonplussed at their arrival. Using this deduction Lance guesses Green Robe is the leader.

“Sooooooo hi,” Lance starts. No one responds, and Green Robe looks him up and down. Lance feels personally judged and not in the judicial way.

Green Robe pulls out a scroll and unfurls it.

“You’re accused of trespassing outside of the city. You have also initiated violence against the queen’s guard -“ Green Robe starts reading off.

“Wait wait wait, can I interrupt you?” Lance says and Green Robe stops and blinks at him, “and I mean that super respectively, your… highness? But as you can see we’re really not, uh, from here. Or this planet. If we’d known we were trespassing we definitely wouldn’t have gone anywhere near the river. Or the planet! We would definitely not have trespassed on this planet at all. So this is really just a huge misunderstanding, we promise we’re good guys and just ended up in the wrong place. If you’ll let us go we’ll definitely leave and not come back. Ever.”

Green Robe stares at him. Keith stays quiet like Lance told him to. He kind of wishes he hadn’t told him to.

“You seem to be creatures of speech, like us, so you must understand the law,” Green Robe says after a long pause. “Initiating violence against the queen’s guard, then failing to escape or defeat them means you have given up your right to a trial.”

“Fail?!” Keith starts as Lance says, “Now hold on just a second I definitely did not fight anybody, it was all Keith over here!”

“Thanks Lance,” Keith says scathingly as Green Robe starts speaking again.

“The responsible party does not matter as you were in the company of another and did not help the queen’s guard quell the violence,” Green Robe interjects in a monotone voice and makes a hand gesture at the guard beside him. “Take them to the courtyard. The sentence will be carried out at sunset.”

Lance’s protests after that fall on deaf ears as they’re shepherded through yet another set of too-small doors and into what looks like a courtyard with a platform set up in the center that he bets they’re going to be featured on. He really hopes they aren’t sentenced to death, it’d be something else to add to the long string of disappointments today.  

After what feels like a varga later, he’s right.

From their little platform, Lance boredly watches a stream of curious spectators ebb and flow around them. Someone must have opened the gates at some point to sell tickets because he feels like the main attraction of a living museum display. It’s absurd how orderly the crowd is. If he has to choose between this and death (please don’t be death), he’ll be fine if they would give him a freaking 15-minute break or something. Being tied to a log upright on dry land is not an improvement on being tied to a log floating on water, comfort wise, and he could really use a drink of water and some shade. He can’t believe all he wanted to do today was laundry and now he’s stuck here, in his swim trunks, frying under alien suns with the one person he’d rather be anyone else (alive) except maybe Hagar.

“Hey Keith?”

“What?”

“Is now a bad time to say I really, really need to pee?”

There was a long pause.

“Fuck. Now I need to pee too. Oh my god, Lance. Why.”

“Sorry.”

At least the guards seem intent on quickly quelling attempts to throw things in their direction after something suspiciously resembling a rotten tomato but smelling like a mango had landed at their feet.

“You know, as crazy as this is, this is not the worst situation we’ve been in. By now everyone’s realized we’re gone, so it’s just a matter of time before they come rescue us. On a danger level this is like, a 4 out of 10, at most.”

“Yeah.”

Another pause. Lance glances to his right but Keith doesn’t continue. Lance sighs in frustration, waiting is boring.

“So… your mom seems cool?” Lance hedges instead.

Keith turns to give him a look like he just grew another head.

“What?! She’s this super dangerous spy from space, that’s pretty cool,” Lance says. “I mean shame you didn’t inherit any of the coolness.”

“Thanks, Lance,” Keith says with an eye roll. “Can we just focus here? And try not to die?”

“Focus on what, Keith, the sunburn, the thirst or my knees going numb?” 

Keith sighs and thunks his head back against the log.

“Look, just drop it,” Keith says.

“Okay,  _ fine _ , I’ll drop that too. Sheesh Keith, if you don’t want to talk to me just say so,” Lance retorts.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Keith responds incredulously with raised eyebrows.

Wow. Message received. Lance glares at Keith who just shrugs and turns away. He’d be angrier if he wasn’t also kind of hurt.

Lance doesn’t get much time to dwell before a low roar rumbles through the courtyard, echoing off the stone pavement. Hope springs in Lance’s chest.  _ Finally _ .

“Hey! They’re here!”

“No, it’s rain,” Keith says with resignation.

“What? But there aren’t any clouds.”

“Give it a minute.”

Lance sincerely hopes his disgruntled expression conveys his severe disappointment, but Keith’s eyes are closed. Fine. No talking. 

Sure enough, about two minutes later (not that Lance was counting), a gray wisp edges into the square of sky visible and the light began to darken as another, louder rumble echoes through. Some of their audience moves to the covered perimeter.

“Well, quiznak.”

Keith just sighs and slumps forward.

“Uh. Guards? Guys? Anyone? Are you just gonna leave us here?” Lance attempts to nudge a guard with his foot but can’t quit reach. A couple of guards glance at him but no one responds.

“You know what, I should not be surprised,” Lance thunks his head back against his new log home. “Please be water.”

There’s nothing he can do but wait for the deluge as the clouds rumble in. When the first drop of rain – smelling heavily of water – hits the ground beside his feet, it’s soon followed by five more, ten more, then exponentially into a torrent of water pouring over their heads. He shrieks in frigid shock. It’s cold, cold cold cold cold, he can feel it in his bones.

Today sucks.

“Today sucks!”

“Yep,” Keith yells over the roar but still manages to pop the P.

\--

Being down two paladins made splitting up to search for them difficult as someone had to stay behind to guard Black in case of emergency. The fact that Black had not been called to save its pilot was the only consolation Allura had that Keith and Lance were not in danger. It would be just her luck to lose Lance, lose friends, because of being stuck in space due to her own idiocy.

Attempts at contacting them through Red had failed. No one answered their calls.

“I’m going with you,” Shiro had said leaving no room for argument. A silent look between the team and they decided not to press the issue of Shiro’s well-being or him potentially still being tied to Black, which left Pidge and Hunk because she was certainly not staying. Hunk, bless him, had volunteered to protect the lions with Coran and an unconcerned Krolia. She swears Krolia could look a raging celestial storm in the eye and not blink. Allura likes her.

That left them two to a lion, with Allura and Shiro in Blue, and Pidge and Romelle in Green. Honestly, she still has no idea how Romelle managed to talk her way onboard, but Pidge seemed game for the company. For someone who’s lost their home and family and then thrown their lot in with Voltron, Romelle seems to be taking things remarkably in stride.

She doesn’t like to dwell on how similar their experiences have been. It seems almost to be the fate of Alteans.

“Now that we’re closer to the ground, it’s clear there’s some sort of signal interference going on. But it’s like it’s coming from the planet itself,” Pidge’s voice filters over the speakers in Allura’s helmet. “This is fascinating. Or, you know, it would be if we weren’t trying to find our friends. What were they even doing anyway? Keith was all-“ Pidge inflects her voice in imitation, “- ‘stay on your guard.’”

“Does that mean we’re limited to visuals only?” Shiro asks ignoring the second part of the statement, then turns to Allura. She nods and adjusts Blue’s sensors to perform visual sweeps. The landscape view expands to cover the cockpit windows.

“Seems like it. Oh – and some infrared. Heat signatures seem to show up. And obviously our comms, in the lions at least, work.”

“That’s useful,” Allura responds. “Lance mentioned he was going to investigate the river.”

“The river was that way!” Romelle chimes in, and Pidge flashes up the location on their screens.

“If they were going to the river, they would have likely stuck to it to find their way back and may have headed the wrong way. Let’s split up – Pidge and Romelle you head south. Allura and I will look north.”

“Got it,” Pidge says and veers off to their left. Allura turns Blue to the right and heads toward the river, skimming low over tree tops while looking for signs of Red or movement. Between the four of them surely they’ll find the others soon.

Honestly the two should have known better than to go off from the group without their armor or communicators, even if they had scouted the area previously. They had better be fine. If they aren’t, they’re getting a stern lecture.

“Allura? Can you increase the temperature in here?”

“HAH! I told you wearing a wet under suit was a bad idea,” Pidge crows over the comms and Shiro sighs.

“I’m not going on a rescue mission wearing pajamas, especially when they aren’t mine.”

Allura fights a smile and adjusts the temperature. It might help her suit dry as well.

“Thanks,” Shiro says as warmer air floods the cockpit.

When they find Red out in the open, sitting along the riverbank, Allura fights a flash of irritation. If they’ve been here this whole time and just haven’t responded she’s going to - well, strangling would be a bit violent but that’s the first thing that comes to mind.

She lands Blue as close as she can beside Red, and she and Shiro disembark to investigate while Pidge keeps Green hovering overhead.

Red is closed and silent.

“It appears they aren’t with the lion anymore,” Allura remarks into her helmet comms and turns to Shiro.

“Let’s look around, see what we can find,” he says and Allura nods.

“Pidge, keep eyes on us,” she says, not wanting to add to the number of missing paladins. Two is enough.

It’s not long before they encounter their first lead. They follow the riverbank for a few doboshes, carefully choosing their steps as to not slip on blue moss-covered rocks before finding a gap in the vegetation. Allura pulls out her bayard and gestures for Shiro to stay behind her and keep an eye on their backs, which he does with a nod.

Not far inside the gap is a small clearing and sign of a struggle. Broken branches, green leaves littering the ground, a gash or two in wood. She shares a wary look with Shiro. A struggle means a fight, and if Lance and Keith are missing, that means they may have lost it. She braces herself for possibly discovering them injured, or worse, and they press on into the woods, following the signs of disturbance.

Their search ends at the remains of ropes hanging from a large tree, green leaves covering the ground except for a large circle in the center of the area. From there the broken branches lead back to the river.

“A trap,” Shiro breathes out in surprise. “They were caught in a trap.”

“Pidge, I thought you said this planet was uninhabited,” Allura says into the comms, fighting warring relief and worry between not finding the two injured versus not finding them at all.

“Wait – what? It’s not?” Pidge exclaims through her comms.

“We’ve found signs of a struggle and a trap,” Allura says. “It leads back to the river.”

“Signal blocking,” Pidge says with what Allura thinks is a snap of her fingers. “They’re hiding! How advanced are they?! I wonder if they’re like the Olkari, living in the trees,” she continues excitedly.

“Direct us back to Blue,” Shiro says, leaning toward Allura so Pidge can hear. “We need to see where the river takes us.”

Once they’re in the air again, it’s clear the river leads to civilization. Their first clue is something that looks suspiciously like a structure hugging the riverbank. Shortly after, they find another, and another. Nature does not create windows and doors. It does, however, create storms, one of which seems to be gathering overhead as they fly farther down the river.

They do as much reconnaissance as they can. The structures seem to be made of clay or stone, not metal. With the limited data they have on this planet, and their age, it’s frustratingly like going in blind. It’s strange, but according to the records salvaged from the Castle, there shouldn’t be a sentient species here. Is it possible for a new sentient species to evolve and build a society in the span of only 10,000 decaphoebs?

Green flies ahead with cloaking on and Pidge confirms the civilization grows denser farther down river, culminating in a small city surrounding a lake that seems too small for the volume of water held in the river. It’s difficult to find out much more due to a storm centered over the city, requiring them to either wait it out or make a landing due to poor visibility.

Time is of the essence. There’s no telling how long the storm will last, or what state Lance and Keith are in. She hopes for a friendly resolution.

It’s pouring rain when they land in a large clearing in the only clearing large enough for the lions, which looks like it passes for a town square. Allura tries not to be smug when Pidge exits Green and shrieks as she gets soaked to the bone.

Shiro doesn’t try, even with his lack of helmet.

“Told you,” he half-shouts over the rain and swipes his wet hair to the side.

“Ugh. Don’t start,” Pidge yells back.

“Can we just wait for them to rescue themselves and stay inside the lions where it’s dry?!” Romelle calls from the shelter of Green. She hasn’t stepped out yet.

“Someone keeping an eye out on the lions isn’t a bad idea,” Allura yells at the same time Shiro yells “We need to stay together.” Allura frowns at Shiro.

“This could be a dangerous mission, and Romelle does not have a weapon,” Allura points out, not adding that Shiro does not either and is in no fighting condition. He should be more aware of his own limitations and act upon them, but she knows it’s a frustratingly useless argument.

“But she can’t operate a lion - and if we split up, she may get captured,” Shiro argues back.

“This isn’t a horror movie, Shiro,” Pidge breaks in, “but we need to decide soon because we have an audience.”

They pause and look around. A crowd has gathered around them, gawking at the lions. The locals are short in stature with iridescent skin and a scattering of feathers, clad in shabby tunics, robes and pants in a multitude of colors dulled by the rain. At first glance they seem tired, which is an unusual observation and in her experience does not bode well for the social structure.  

“Uh-“ Shiro starts and looks to her helplessly. Of course.

“Hello there!” Allura calls out putting on her best neutral expression. Not all cultures take smiles to be good things. “We come in peace and mean you no harm. We’re looking for our friends. Have any of you seen anyone who looks like us?”

She points to herself and the others as an example and is met with silence.

“Or anything strange? Besides us.”

One of the locals, a smaller one who may be a juvenile, points at them. Or behind them. She turns to look and her suspicions are confirmed. It’s the largest building, spires towering over the rest of the city that are barely discernible in the rain. Before landing they confirmed the clearing has a direct path to it.

“In there?” Pidge asks and Allura turns back to see them pulled back behind taller inhabitants.

Lightning cracks overhead and the rain picks up. “Thank you!” she shouts over the rain to no effect. The people don’t budge. It’s a bit unnerving, especially given the size of the crowd. She wonders if they are a hive people with a central thought center.

“Yeah so uhm. We’re just gonna… go get them,” Pidge yells half-heartedly and gestures over her shoulder.

“On second thought, maybe it’s best I come with you,” Romelle calls out and joins them in the rain, leaning in to loudly add, “these people give me the creeps.” Green’s ramp closes behind her.

“They’re clearly not used to interstellar travelers,” Allura chides. It’s surprising, given they were able to capture two paladins of Voltron. They turn as one down the wide cobbled road and take stock of what they can see.

“Off to storm the castle,” Shiro remarks and Pidge guffaws.

“Well, it is storming,” Romelle adds.

Lightning flashes as they walk toward the castle down a wide road, and up close it’s clear this civilization is young or technologically undeveloped. There are no signs of anything requiring power, and while the buildings seem well-constructed, they’re rudimentary with the exception of the castle at the center. Any light filtering through the rain seems to come from indoor fire pits, and what appear to be windows are closed tight with well-fitted shutters.

The populace is packed tightly inside the spaces they pass, silently peeking through cracked doorways and from under awnings. It’s a bit awkward being almost as tall as some of the buildings. They occasionally hear the sound of wood slamming upon wood breaking through the rain, and Allura catches several windows and doors closing quickly as they draw near. It’s a relief, given that she would be able to see into some of the windows at eye level if they were not closed.

“Not a talkative bunch, are they?” Romelle asks.

“It’s kind of eerie,” Pidge says. “Maybe they don’t communicate vocally?”

“I wish we had more information. It doesn’t seem possible for this species to exist, especially this close to Daibazaal without traveling by teleduv,” Allura says, then chances moving closer to a group watching them warily but curiously from the doorway of what looks like a storefront with several empty wooden displays. She crouches down.

“Hello,” she starts, but is dismayed to find more of a reaction from this group as they jump and hide in the doorway. “My apologies, I don’t mean any harm. I was just curious, what are your people called?”

She pauses, giving them time to respond if they’re going to, and is rewarded with one of them peeking its fuchsia feathered head back around the doorway.

“Our people?”

“They do speak!” Romelle exclaims with surprise behind her. Allura inwardly sighs; she is not helping.

“Yes. Your people. Or this city. Where are we?”

“This place is called Zavohz,” they reply. Another, sporting yellow feathers, peeks their head out from the doorway as well. She can’t help but notice up close how shabby their clothing in, how their skin clings to their bones. She wonders if this is normal.

“Thank you,” she says with as much gratitude as she can muster. “It seems our friends are lost, and we are looking for them. The others pointed toward the castle – er, large building in the center. Did you see anyone looking like us come by?”

“No,” they start, before another one, green and orange, chances peeking out and speaking. “There were many soldiers going there before the rain.”

Allura looks over her shoulder at the group. Romelle shrugs.

“Be careful,” the one from before speaks. “The faalxas hunt in the rain.”

“The faalxa?”

Their informant slowly but decisively blinks its large, slitted eyes in what she assumes is their confirmation. “It is larger than you, tall one. Do you plan to eat us too?”

“What?! Oh heavens no. We’re just passing through, we have a long journey ahead of us. We truly mean you no harm,” Allura exclaims. The faalxas must hunt these poor creatures. How terrible.

“Can you tell me about Zavohz?” Allura asks.

They take a moment to consider before answering.

“Zavohz is our capitol, our greatest city. Around us were many more but they have suffered from the quake. The lake no longer flows to their cities, so they have come here,” they say. “We have more than we can hold, but we are rebuilding.”

“No wonder there’s so many people,” Pidge comments quietly behind her.

“How long ago was this quake?” Allura asks.

“Three decaphoebs,” they respond. “We have lost many to lack of food, including my shaursi.”

Allura doesn’t know what a shaursi is, but whoever it was, this person cared for them deeply from the way their countenance falls. She would reach out in comfort if she knew how it would be received.

“It is hard, but the queen is just and protects us through strength, even in her absence. Vee rep it saw,” they say, and disappear from the doorway. The others brave enough to peer out also slowly blink and back away, closing the door behind them with the finality of what sounds like a latch being slotted into place.

“Well that was depressing.” Pidge comments. “Oddly helpful, but depressing. Was that a badly pronounced version of vrepit sa?”

“It would make sense for there to be some sort of contact, but for them to survive it…” Allura trails off. They may have survived so far, but they are not doing well now.

The four of them glance uneasily at one another.

“Come on. The sooner we get them, the sooner we can leave,” Romelle breaks in and herds them back to the road. A baby cries in the distance.

\--

Coran pats Kosmo on the head for a job well-done and sneaks him a sizeable treat from behind Hunk’s back. It was best to be prepared for a hasty exit, and Kosmo was a willing and eager partner in helping him store everything in its proper location in the lions according to their chart. How convenient! Now all that’s left is to wait for Allura to return with their wayward paladins.

He wonders what Earth is like. From the paladins’ stories, it seems similar yet not to Altea. He especially wonders what the Earth version of “rain” feels like. He’s experienced a few versions on other planets, but the lack of flaming debris always makes him homesick.

This trip, for better or worse, will be good for taking Allura’s mind off that scheming beleblex-brain Lotor. Coran’s not sorry that he’s dead. He hopes he’s dead. But he can’t help but wonder if, under different circumstances, that their union would have been a happy occasion. If Alfor was still alive, if Zarkon had never betrayed them, if Honerva had not gone mad with quintessence. If Allura had been allowed to grow up peacefully, learning how to fly the castle for rescue missions and interventions instead of eternal war. Alfor entrusted him with Allura’s safekeeping and he’s done a bang-up job of failing so far. But she’s a young adult and a leader, she must make her own decisions and learn to handle the consequences. It chills him to the bone how she, like Alfor, was used to build a peerless weapon which was used against her in turn by someone she trusted.

It’s not the first time he wonders what he would do if he did not have Allura, being the only one left. With Alfor gone - damn him for dying.

He shakes his head and slaps his cheeks. Time to get out of that macabre mindset and focus. His pop-pop always said the best solution for idle hands is preparation, and the second-best is over-preparation. He’ll help Hunk with dinner since he’s been banned from the important task of “laundry.”

“No,” Hunk calls out when he sees Coran heading toward the fire. “Nuh uh, dinner’s almost done.”

“But I-“

“Why don’t you take a break, Coran?” Krolia appears beside him. “It’s impressive how quickly you organized the cargo. I’m glad to see Kosmo being helpful for something other than watching Keith chase sticks.”

Take a break? He glances around camp quickly, mentally going through all the things that they need to accomplish - and is frog marched toward the shade under Black.

“Don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Coran muses as he’s forced down into a seat.

“No. Have you ever heard of the earth drink called a ‘margarita?’”

\--

The trip to the castle is uneventful other than the rain and the countless stares. She constantly feels watched here, like their group is intentionally being given space and if she were to disturb any of the locals they would be swarmed. Entering the castle had been easier than expected as the guards had simply ushered them to the throne room upon their arrival, obviously expecting them. The castle is warmer, banked with blazing fire pits and torches. Pidge had mused that perhaps due to their reptilian nature, the people here may be cold-blooded and lose energy in the rain, which could explain their odd welcome to the city.

What happens when they arrive to the throne room, however, is another story.

“What do you mean you won’t release our friends?!” Allura all but shouts in indignation.

“They were caught trespassing along a protected part of the river, reserved for the queen,” announces a bored-looking Zavohzan wearing a green robe. “Justice must be carried out while the queen is away.”

Allura has never been so frustrated as she is staring down this singular immovable creature equipped only with a paper scroll. When the four had inquired about their friends, they were promptly informed they were captured for their crimes, there was nothing they could do, and to please come back later after their sentencing. Repeatedly. In at least five different sentence structures. They do not care that there were no signs in any language informing others of the restriction. They do not care that they are facing down likely the only interstellar visitors they have ever seen in their life. They do not care that theoretically Allura could use force to take them back at any time.

Her father would have never stood for this behavior.

Shiro shares a look with her and clears his throat. “What’s the punishment for trespassing?”

“Ten decaphoebs of service to the queen,” they respond evenly.

“Ten decaphoebs?!” Pidge exclaims as Romelle leans in toward Allura and whispers “Why aren’t we just taking them and running?” She makes some elaborate hand gesture that Allura assumes is them making a break for it.

“Because we’re attempting to respect the sovereignty of a people,” she responds in an equal whisper through gritted teeth.

“Are there any substitutions for that punishment?” Shiro asks. How he can be calmer than her at this moment she has no idea.

The Zavohzan slowly blinks at them. “There are several equal punishments that may be considered based upon the criminal. These are 1 decaphoeb of service and death, 2 decaphoebs of service and death, 3 decaphoebs of service and death, 4 decaphoebs-“

“Oh COME ON,” Pidge shouts and throws her hands up.

“- of service and death,” they continue, “5 decaphoebs of service and death, 6 decaphoebs of service and death, 7 decaphoebs of service and death, 8 decaphoebs of service and death, 9 decaphoebs of service and death, 9 decaphoebs of service and consideration for a shorter sentence based upon remaining physical capabilities and lifespan, proof and three witness accounts of contributing to the defeat of a faalxa, an exceptional feat of great worth to the queen based upon their wise judgement, or assignment of your remaining lifespan to civil service.”

The four of them stare at the Zavohzan. The Zavohzan stares back. Allura feels a brief pang of pity.

“Soooo… we just have to find a faalxa,” Pidge says.

“Yes, if you wish. It is a crime to intentionally lure a faalxa within Zavohz,” they say, then look up suddenly. “However, you are in luck. A faalxa is prowling the castle. Vee rep it saw.”

Allura watches in amazement as they quickly spring into action and disappear faster than she thought possible into an unnoticed doorway to the side of the room. A baby’s cry echoes down the hall.

“You don’t think…” Shiro starts.

“- That the baby crying is the sound of the really scary thing everyone keeps mentioning?” Pidge finishes eagerly.

“Are you sure this isn’t a horror movie?” Shiro flatly asks. Pidge waves her hand in what Allura’s come to learn is a “maybe” gesture.

The earth horror movies Allura has heard about always end in grotesque dismemberment.

“There’s no time to waste, we must find Lance and Keith then bring them to this creature. Let’s go!” Allura shouts and breaks into a run toward the entrance of the great hall.

\--

The world’s gone gray, curtained in sound. If Lance closes his eyes and holds his breath, he can pretend he’s back home on earth stealing a few moments in the rain. Any second now Mom will scold him and call him inside to dry off and get ready for dinner. If he doesn’t hurry, he’ll get stuck with the uneven chair and Veronica will push at it the whole time.

He breathes in.

“I know you don’t want to talk to me, but when we landed on this planet this is not how I thought the day would go,” Lance says.

He’s jealous of Keith’s Blade of Marmora body suit for the first time in his life. That thing always looks like it causes the worst wedgies but he would happily put up with that to not be freezing his ass off in swim trunks right now. Or sunburned.

“We don’t have the luxury of plans without the castle. You know this.”

“Yes, Keith,  _ I know _ . What, you only want to talk when you can give orders and harp about responsibility?” Lance seethes but doesn’t bother looking over. Screw Keith. 

Predictably, Keith stays silent.

“Wow. Okay,” Lance breathes through his teeth in a failed attempt at staying calm, “god, what is your problem?!” he all but shouts out, his voice echoing across the courtyard in competition with the rain.

“Uh,” Keith starts but doesn’t finish, not like Lance is expecting him to at this point.

Lance is so frustrated right now he could come out of his skin. He wants to hang out with Allura and Hunk and Pidge and Shiro and Coran and have family dinner and not deal with saving the universe. He wants to go home and crawl into his warm, dry bed that doesn’t exist anymore because they blew it up. He wants to be literally anywhere but here. Keith can just. Keith can go to hell and be alone like he obviously wants to be.

No, that’s not right. He feels bad the moment he thinks that. Keith’s his friend even if he’s being a giant asshole right now. It’s not Keith’s fault they’re stuck. And yeah, he’s mad at Keith right now, but that’s not the only reason he’s angry.

“Look, I get it, everything sucks. We fought Lotor, realized Shiro died and was an imposter all along, lost our home, have like zero supplies and have no clue how we’re gonna get back to Earth because our friggin’ lions won’t work and maybe you feel responsible, but holy crap Keith lighten up,” Lance says, he knows he babbling but he has a lot to say and isn’t going to stop, “A lot of bad things have happened, Allura’s not okay, and maybe you aren’t either, but we don’t know, you won’t tell us anything besides giving orders! Like we’re soldiers instead of your friends! Did you got off into space and forget about us?!”

“I. Uh.” Keith stammers. Lance glances to his left and Keith blinks back between locks of long hair plastered to his face.

Lance deflates.

“Forget it.” Lance closes his eyes and leans back. “I thought we were friends. Guess I was wrong.”

Thunder rumbles overhead. The rain muffles everything but the skies and the staccato sounds of impacts on the courtyard stones. In the distance he thinks he hears something eerily like a baby crying. Same, alien baby. Same.

“I’m sorry.” It comes out so small he can barely hear it.

“What? I couldn’t hear you.”

“I’m sorry, Lance.” It comes out louder this time but still just as pathetic. 

“What? This storm is so loud. Did Keith Kogane really apologize about something? I must not have heard right.”

Keith lets out a loud groan. “Lance. For the love of – I’m trying to apologize here!”

“Yeah well, you suck at it. And also, I don’t want your apology.”

“What?” Keith’s voice cracks.

“Don’t apologize, just, do better. I thought we were like a space family, you know? These crazy kids all stuck in space together fighting evil, piloting giant robots, being cool heroes. Shutting us out hurts.”

“Okay,” Keith says with a shaky voice. “Okay. You’re right. I’m so-”

“Bzzzt! Wrong! No apologies. And also I’m going to remember you saying that I’m right so I can remind you later,” Lance says. “Let us be your friends again. We need a leader, but you’re our friend first, and we have the right to give you shit for bad decisions. And this? What you’ve been doing? Baaad decision. So, do better.”

It's a moment or two before Keith responds with a choked laugh. Lance is magnanimous and blames it on the rain.

“Thanks, Lance.”

“Any time.”

They lapse into silence again, but now he’s okay with that. On the other hand, he is not okay with still being stuck here and he wasn’t joking about needing to pee. It’s raining so hard anyway, maybe no one will notice- no who the heck is he kidding, Keith will never let him live it down. He sighs and settles in for more waiting.

Thunder rumbles overhead but not as close as before, then echoes farther away. If Lance squints, he can see the roofed edges of the courtyard again. He wonders if the rain’s actually letting up or he’s imagining it out of desperation. Seems like the guards are perking up, so maybe it’s true.

“Hey Lance? Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did.”

“Shut up,” Keith says without heat. “Theoretically, if you had to choose between one person versus the uh, well, everyone, what would you do?”

“Huh. You’ve never struck me as the philosophical type, Keith.”

Keith sighs. “Just answer it.”

“I don’t know, I feel like I’d need context? What’s the situation? Who’s the person?”

“It’s theoretical, Lance, as in it hasn’t happened.”

“Hmm. That’s tough,” Lance says. “We’re heroes right? So it’d be the everyone. I guess.”

“Yeah,” Keith says despondently. “That’s what I thought.”

“But,” Lance says, and turns to face Keith, “because we  _ are _ heroes, that means we can find a way around it, right? So theoretically, you shouldn’t have to choose, making it a stupid question.”

Keith snorts. “That simple, huh?”

“Yep. What kind of question is that anyway?” Lance squints at Keith, who blinks back at him. “Are you planning something?”

“No Lance,” Keith rolls his eyes. “It was just a question.”

Lance doesn’t believe him. He opens his mouth to interject when a screeching wail so close it’s almost in their ears shuts him up as they both abortively jump in shock to find the source as everyone around them begins to run and scream – and Lance immediately wishes he hasn’t because holy shit.

“What is that?!” Keith shouts.

In a doorway of the courtyard stands what Lance can only describe as a terrifying giraffe but with fangs and orange scales and a set of arms ending in claws, and it keeps making this wail like – like a gargantuan crying baby -

“Lance! Keith!”

“Allura?!”

\--

“What do you mean we have to defeat this thing?!” Lance shouts as Pidge cuts Keith free just in time for him to jump out of the way of the beast shredding the post he was tied to. Lance screams.

“It’s the quickest way to clear yourself of charges,” Allura answers as she cuts his bonds then launches her bayard at the beast to trip it. It stumbles and turns its attention toward her. “Where are your bayards?!”

“Why can’t we just leave?!” Lance shouts back the same time Keith answers, “They confiscated them, we have to get them back!”

The faalxas lunges for her next and she runs, leaving the others behind. As long as she has its attention she can draw it away while they find weapons if they’ll stop tripping over their own protests.

“Stop arguing and attack it!”

It’s a game of chase. Her lungs burn and heart races as she runs, dodges and jumps. A slip, a rough scrape, and worried shouts of “Allura!” and she’s up and running again as the creature’s claws create sparks upon the wet stones. This creature is fast, and those claws means she can’t take it down with brute force without risking injury. She spies an opportunity to create momentum and swings around a post in the courtyard with the help of her bayard to misdirect the beast and get ahead. She has no time to see if it worked.

“Can someone help please?!” she shouts and careens wildly around another post as the beast crashes into it behind her with a scream.

“Allura, go that way!” Lance calls from her left and she turns to see him gesture with one of the Zavohzans’ short spears to a far corner of the courtyard, with Pidge stationed with her bayard at the ready along the way. She can’t see Keith but she thinks she understands the plan and changes course so fast she momentarily slides along the paving stones again before gaining traction. A scream so close she swears she can feel warm breath spikes panic in her throat.

She places her trust in her friends and dashes for the far side of the courtyard, keeping Pidge’s location in mind. Out of the corner of her eye she thinks she sees a flash of jet black, and hears the sound of Lance’s sandals closing in behind her.

Allura doesn’t see Pidge deploy her bayard but she does hear a shout of “Now!” followed by the creature’s scream. She doesn’t stop running until she catches and spins around another column, turning just in time to see Lance and Keith drive spears into the faalxas’ head. She averts her gaze to find Shiro and Romelle nearby, holding three of the Zavohzans in place with Romelle giving her a triumphant grin. She breathes a sigh of relief, that solves that dilemma.

“Ew, gross,” Pidge laments.

\--

Lance stares into the flickering flames of the large bonfire the aliens – Zavohzans – set up in the courtyard, giant spits of faalxas roasting merrily around it with little colorful stalls set up on the perimeter selling treats. He still can’t believe these little guys kidnapped him. The sky’s clear and a weirdly pretty color of violet as the twin suns edge the horizon and a giant moon rises. It kind of reminds him of that time his family took him to the carnival back home but without the tickets or janky rides.

He gnaws on a stick of something vaguely sweet and chewy that Hunk had tried and declared delicious, then forced on everyone. As usual Hunk’s right, and he’s having the time of his life right now trying the local cuisine. It’s more fruit-based than he thought a lizard people would eat, which is okay with him. He helped kill the thing currently roasting over the fire and he doesn’t know how he feels about eventually eating it.

His eyes flit to Allura where she’s trailing behind after Hunk, expression open as she learns more about the Zavohzan culture and history. She’s in her element here, and Lance is happy to see her relax. He wonders if she’ll like Earth half this much. He can’t wait to show her all the cool stuff back home, introduce her to his family, eat pizza and watch movies, take her to the beach. He sighs wistfully. A decaphoeb and a half is an awfully long time. He hopes all the planets they stop on won’t be as difficult as this one. All they wanted to do was freaking laundry and look at what happened. Yeah, he might be well-fed and wearing his clean paladin armor now, but if you asked him a few hours ago, he would have said hell no.

After they’d killed the faalxas, Lance and Keith had been cleared of their bogus charges then were immediately asked to provide assistance to help save the city. Of course they’d agreed, because they were Paladins of Voltron, defenders of the universe even when parts of that universe were really annoying. That’s when the day got really weird, because they discovered a giant hole in the lake with something resembling a plug that had come loose and had definitely not been made by the Zavohzans. Then Pidge mentioned the vrepit sa reference from earlier and one thing led to another and oh yeah the planet had definitely been colonized by the Galra. They discovered a suspicious tube at the bottom of the lake, which was connected to a suspicious cave on dry land, which was connected to a suspicious laboratory underground. Keith had used his suspicious Galra genes to open it.

Inside they discovered a mummified Galra slumped over in a chair in front of a large screen overlooking the city of Zavohz. Some light reading on the still-activated computers revealed the dead Galra had definitely been the “queen” and this whole planet was part of a sentient-species experiment by the Galra empire. They’d found some funky looking lizards that could survive the vacuum of space on the otherwise uninhabited planet and gene-spliced them to kickstart evolution.

The latest stage of the experiment had been introducing environmental hardships to build collective survival strategy. The faalxas were part of that experiment, which is adding another complicated layer of regret to the idea of eating it. Lance chews vindictively on his sweets and wonders if they’re digestible.

The Galra scientist had left a message for whoever discovered the lab, providing a plea to leave the species and planet alone. Resources dried up as the empire began collapsing after their initial defeat of Zarkon, which was weird because the timeline there didn’t match up with what the alien told Allura. The queen had stayed, dedicated solely to her mission, and waited for relief. It never came, and she got sick. The rest of the report didn’t go into detail, but it was easy to read between the lines. Knowing the end was inevitable, to protect the Zavohzans she’d sequestered herself here and permanently left the signal interference installed on the planet in the “on” position.

When Allura had finished reading the message aloud, Keith made a weird chocked noise and excused himself from the room. Allura had shared a “wtf” look with him and Lance had shrugged. It’d been an emotional day, maybe Keith just needed some time alone.

Which he guesses he’s taking right now because he spies him edging silently away from the celebration toward a quieter section of the square. Pidge plopping down beside him interrupts his Keith watch.

“Try this,” she thrusts a leaf-wrapped greenish square at him. “It tastes just like a bean burrito.”

Lance takes it and swaps it out for the chewy thing and pops it in his mouth. Pidge is totally right, even the leaf somehow has the texture of a tortilla.

“Needs salsa.”

“Yeah, would be great with jalapenos,” she says and plops another square into her mouth. Lance holds out his hand for another and she holds her bag away from him. Rude. “Go get your own.”

“Ugh, fine,” Lance groans and moves to get up when Hunk swoops in with the save.

“Hey man, you’ve got to try this! It tastes just like-“ “a bean burrito, I know, gimme,” Lance interrupts and makes grabby hands. Hunk laughs and hands over a few more which Lance inhales.

“Do not, under any circumstances,” Lance says between bites, “tell me what these are made of.”

“Deal,” Hunk says easily and finds a seat beside him.

“Are you just gonna watch Allura all night or what?” Pidge asks, popping another green cube in her mouth.

“Hey! I wasn’t watching Allura, I was watching Keith,” Lance protests but yeah, he’s probably gonna watch Allura all night.

“Wait, where? I don’t see him,” Pidge says.

“He snuck off that way,” Lance points, and shoves another green cube in his mouth. He’s sad he only has one more. Maybe if he’s too full to eat the faalxas no one will make him.

“He’s been acting odd lately. Should we go after him?” Pidge asks, concern audible.

“Nah, Shiro’s got it handled,” Hunk adds and opens up another container that smells like that tomango that was thrown at Lance earlier and proceeds to dunk a green cube in it. Why didn’t he think of that?!

“Oh,” Pidge says, blinking owlishly behind her glasses. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Hunk says.

“What?” Lance asks.

Hunk and Pidge share a look.

“You know, Keith and Shiro,” Hunk says like Lance should know what he’s talking about.

“What about Keith and Shiro?” Allura asks as she walks toward them. Lance shrugs and nudges Hunk to move over to make room because if he did it to Pidge she’d kill him. Hunk rolls his eyes and moves and Allura takes his spot. She munches on an orange pancake flecked with green and Lance tears his eyes away from her mouth when Pidge elbows him in the side.

“They’re off talking, so they’re fine,” Hunk says and Allura nods.

“As long as we don’t have to deal with anyone else being imprisoned today,” Allura says, then faces Lance and puts on her stern face. “Do you understand how stupid it was for you to go off without a communicator of some sort?”

“Oh no,” Pidge starts as Lance cringes.

“You could have been injured! Or worse! You could have disappeared into the forest for good Lance, and I can’t believe you would be so idiotic to put all of us and the universe in danger by going off like that -“ Lance physically feels his soul leaving his body “- if something happens to you, what happens to Voltron? After everything we’ve been through, I thought you were more responsible than that.”

This is it. This is how Lance dies. Just find the nearest hole and bury him there. How can he explain that he left because of her? Because she’s everything and he’s a coward.

“Besides,” Allura takes a deep breath. “Earth doesn’t seem like it would be nearly as fun without you.”

Allura smiles at him. Smiles. Lance is definitely dead now and this is heaven.

“Awwww,” Hunk coos and Pidge makes a gagging noise.

“But really don’t do it again,” Allura adds.

“Y-yeah. Not leaving again. Never,” Lance firmly nods his head.

“Good,” Allura nods and her smile softens. Lance melts. “Want some shkaan? I think it’s bitter riverweed, starchy fruit and tree bug paste.” She offers an orange pancake.

“Yes please.”

\--

Like a moth to a flame, Shiro’s eyes follow Keith as he trails behind Krolia and Allura in the town square. It’s incredibly out of character. Shiro’s used to Keith providing support, but staunchly and loudly from the side. Not watching from behind.

Maybe it’s something else new about Keith that he’s just learning. But that wouldn’t make sense – even if Keith had become quieter in his two decaphoebs away, he hasn’t watched from the sidelines since Shiro’s returned to the land of the living. No, maybe he has something on his mind.

Whatever it is, Shiro itches to find out. And that’s something new about him, too. The curiosity isn’t, but the burning need is.

A crowd’s gathering again around Krolia. Well, more like the existing crowd is getting bigger again. Shiro’s somehow not surprised that Keith’s mother would be the kind of person who could help put together a new government at the drop of a hat. When the others and their lions had all reconvened here in the city, it had been like the second coming the moment Krolia stepped out of Black. It’s been an experience watching her elegantly fend off and corral her new worshippers in the span of a few hours. Keith comes by his magnetism honestly.

And looks, if he’s admitting that. But he isn’t, and there’s no one in his head but him to call him out on it. He should know, he’s checked. Allura has too.

Coran interrupts his thoughts with a vigorous reenactment of his hunt of a beast that he proclaimed was twice as tall as the faalxas and three times as ferocious. Oh, wait, no. He’s recreating its mating call.

Whatever Shiro’s drinking is not strong enough for this.

He returns his attention to Keith – only to see that he’s not there. Damnit. This is what he gets for being so slow. He feels like he’s permanently in slow motion and living half a tic behind everyone else.

He starts to ask Romelle if she saw where Keith went, but she’s raptly paying attention to Coran who is now… on his hands and knees doing something to the delight of his audience. He takes the opportunity to slip away and find Keith. He’s not sure what he’ll say when he does, but it feels wrong not being near him when there’s no reason not to be. So that’s also a thing, but he’s not sure if he would call that one new. Keith’s always been a comforting presence. 

Sometimes he wonders in breathless amazement at the universe, at specks of light stretching out as far as his mind can see, stardust coalescing into galaxies, solar systems, planets, life, or a brick school building where Keith Kogane stole his car.

“Are you looking for Keith?”

Shiro blinks. Krolia’s patiently waiting for his answer with Kosmo and about two dozen curious Zavohzans. He’s somehow made it from, he turns his head, right. He walked over here from there, where Coran is still center of attention.

“Yes,” he turns his attention back to her. “Do you know where he is?”

“Black, most likely. He didn’t specify, but it would match his general direction.”

“Thank you,” Shiro nods and backs away to go around Krolia’s adoring - unnerving - admirers who make room for him with expressions of gratitude as he passes.

They landed the lions a very short distance outside of the last ring of buildings as it was the only location that had enough room and was short distance from the town square. They sit in a row, overlooking the city. Shiro makes his way toward the largest.

Black’s imposing figure towers over Shiro in not-quite silence, a benevolent sentinel waiting to welcome him home, to swallow him whole and spread him across infinity. Black extends into the solitary figure of Keith perched atop illuminated by the sunset, vigilant to the sky. Waiting.

If this was the purpose for his life, his pain, his exhilaration, he will never regret it. Keith was destined for greatness, for living upon the edge, pushing ever forward, the universe moved and reflected in his gaze. Shiro would do it all over again, sacrifice himself a thousand times, gladly become one with the energy tying reality together for this moment. It feels out of place for him to be standing here to witness it.

Between one blink and the next Shiro feels something shift, as if the fabric of space and time has been breached and rearranged, shifting like a quiet sigh to settle comfortably around his shoulders. He thinks it should be easy, to see this and accept it for the gift it is, and then turn away.

The sunlight glints off the dull glow of Black’s eyes, but Shiro’s can only give their attention to Keith.

“Room for one more?”

Keith jumps in surprise, blinking owlishly down at Shiro with a shocked expression that morphs into something he can’t quite put a finger on.

“How did you - yeah. Yeah. One second,” Keith says. It’s easier said than done, with the size of the lions. Black’s tail curls toward him, Keith riding atop to reach over the side with his arm extended for Shiro to take. He does, and Keith helps pull him up beside him.

They climb back to the top, Keith refusing to take a seat until Shiro does first. He finds himself overlooking the city, trees shrouded in mist in the distance as flocks of birds flutter above and through them. It’s cooler, breezy after the rain. On the left a massive moon rises over the landscape, reflecting in ripples on the lake, while on his right one of the suns begins to dip below the horizon, followed closely by the second. The sky’s a shade of warm violet highlighting the deep pools of Keith’s eyes, the scar trailing down his cheek. Shiro thinks maybe it would be appropriate to feel ashamed of the damage he’s done.

“It’s beautiful,” Shiro says.

“Y-yeah,” Keith blinks at him and turns back to the distance. “It’s. It’s pretty. Did you want something?”

You, Shiro’s mind unhelpfully supplies, but he answers, “no.”

“Yeah, okay.”

They sit in companionable silence, watching the suns’ slow trek down. It’s relaxing, being with Keith. Quiet without being suffocating. Shiro feels himself letting go of anxiety he didn’t know he was carrying.

Which is why he’s completely unprepared for Keith nudging his hand with his. It feels like a brand, and he startles.

“Shiro, I -“ Keith starts, then stops. “Sorry.”

“No, no, you’re fine. What is it?”

Keith takes a deep breath and dons what Shiro calls his battle expression, and if Shiro didn’t know any better he would say he was - he was leaning in - wait, wait -

“Keith?” Shiro’s voice starts but finishes against the press of chapped lips against his own.

Keith pulls away too fast to react, too fast for his surprised brain to catch up. His heart’s leaping in his throat and hindbrain is screaming at him finally, like this had been something he’s been waiting for, something he’s wanted all along instead of him finding out he’s wanted this all along right now, now that he knows it’s an option, that the dam has broken with the possibility.

“Sorry - Shiro sorry I -“ Keith starts and Shiro’s hand scrabbles against Keith’s chest plate before finding leverage on his shoulder and reeling him back so fast they bump noses before his mouth finds Keith’s again, muffling a surprised noise that turns into a shared exhale.

It’s cliché, that everyone compares first kisses to flying. But Shiro is soaring, swooping, diving. If he had engines he would be traveling faster than the speed of light, warping like Black’s hyperdrive, a smear of light against the inky blackness as he presses kisses to Keith’s parting mouth, holds his face in his hand gently, cursing the glove interrupting his contact with his skin. Keith’s hands are a heavy weight on his thigh and bicep, fingers digging in as he catches up and joins him soaring through the sky. Or maybe Shiro’s the one catching up.

Keith falls against Shiro’s chest, catching himself on Black as the two part, panting. Shiro can hear his heartbeat and taste Keith on his lips. He thumbs at his cheek then wraps his arm around Keith’s waist to support him, pulling him close. He doesn’t know where to start. He doesn’t know if he should start. He knows they should talk, that he shouldn’t lean in and kiss Keith soundly again, lose himself in the arresting expression of awe that Keith wears. Shouldn’t watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows.

“Shiro,” Keith starts in a broken voice, says like it’s everything, and Shiro gives in, leans in and kisses him again. Keith’s practically in his lap, his body aches to have him closer, and they press together. He’s helplessly caught, can’t let go, doesn’t want to let go.

They lose time. When they next part, gasping for air, the suns are below the horizon and moonlight has enveloped the landscape. Keith’s practically glowing against the deep purple night sky. A holy being descended from the stars to bless him with his visage. He can’t look away. Keith’s expression softens and he touches Shiro’s forehead with his own.

“We should talk,” Shiro says because he’s burdened with being the responsible one, burdened with the knowledge of what Keith tastes like now. His fingers stroke up and down the parts of Keith’s arm not covered in armor.

“Yeah,” Keith answers with a sigh. Shiro quirks a smile, Keith seems to be saying that a lot tonight. He reaches up and tilts Keith’s head back, thumbing at his chin. He’s caught between staring at his kiss-red mouth or the hopeful vulnerability in his eyes.

“How long?” Shiro asks. He needs to know. Needs to know how long Keith’s been thinking about this, if Shiro’s the one who’s been an idiot all this time or if it was both of them.

Keith huffs out a laugh. “Forever? It feels like forever,” he says and closes his eyes, reopening them to stare at the sky. “You told me once to never give up on myself, because you would never give up on me. Looking back, maybe then,” Keith tips his head back down and blushes. Shiro’s heart is going to kill him again. That long?

“Looking back?” Shiro asks instead, cupping his cheek again, thumb tracing his scar. His scar. Keith leans into it, pets Shiro’s side.

“When I was on the space whale,” Keith says. Shiro’s heard some of what happened, something about time dilation and that’s why suddenly Keith reappeared in Black’s pilot seat taller and older, but between Shiro’s reemergence into the world of the living and Keith dealing with returning after what was years for him, they haven’t talked as much as they should. He had known Keith was taking a break from Voltron, had missed flying with him in Black, left alone with the ghost imposter of himself. Now maybe, now they can talk. He hopes. He makes an encouraging noise for Keith to continue.

“Shiro,” Keith sighs and closes his eyes. “I saw things, on the whale. Things I didn’t understand.”

Keith’s voice is barely a whisper above the breeze.

“I thought. At first, I thought maybe. Maybe being there caused you to share thoughts? I saw the past with my mom, Shiro. I saw my mom and dad. Like he was- like they were together with me as a family, Shiro. I saw her give me up,” Keith’s voice cracks. “I saw her memories. She saw mine. But as time went on, as it became clear we were stuck, I uh. I started to see more. Mom said time acted differently there, and. When we got off, when I came back, I knew you were going to attack me.”

The words don’t sink in properly at first. He blames it on being human, not meant to understand anything other than a linear forward march of time.

“Are you, are you saying you know the future? Keith, that’s…” Shiro trails off. Keith opens his eyes.

“I don’t know. I think so? At least I saw you attacking me. But I didn’t understand why,” Keith says, and blows out a breath of frustration. “Now I know. And that’s not all, I saw - a lot of you, Shiro. The past, the future. Realizing what I’d lost by walking away. What I was going to lose. Realized it hurt a real fucking lot to see you happy with someone else and what that meant.”

Wait. What? Someone else? He’s not sure what to say, and Keith picks up on it.

“I um,” Keith starts to move and Shiro tightens his grip with a soft “wait,” won’t let Keith get scared and run away when they’ve come this far already.

“I owe you my answer, this isn’t one-sided, Keith,” Shiro says quietly, continuing when Keith holds still.

“I realized when you rescued me from man-eating lizards,” Shiro says and is rewarded with an incredulous look from Keith. “You’ve never given up on me, Keith. Even when you knew I was sick, knew I was injured, you stayed by my side. Refused to let me quit. And I realized you were the one person I could trust to always be there by my side, who had waited for me for a year when everyone else thought I was dead, who was amazing beyond words, the person I - I loved. Love.”

He doesn’t add that the moment he saw Keith flying Black for the first time, he knew how it would turn out and how useless it was. That Keith would be there to pick up the pieces when he was gone, because he was slipping away one way or another. But that’s behind them, he’s here, Keith’s in his arms, arm?, and Shiro’s so full of love, of  _ everything _ , that when Keith says “I love you too,” with awe in his voice, Shiro’s vision blurs with tears.

“Please,” Keith pleads, fists the fabric of Shiro’s suit, “please let this be real. Please don’t - don’t go away again, don’t leave me behind. Please, Shiro, I - whatever it is, I can be better, I can fix it, I -“ and Shiro stops him with a kiss, sloppy with tears and snot, holds him close, wonders if this is in the future Keith saw, if this is how it begins and ends, wonders if it’s all set in stone or possibilities so numerous they’ve already altered it permanently somehow. He desperately hopes it’s the latter because how, how could he ever let Keith go? Now that they’ve come so far, now that he knows he can have him, can keep him, he can’t. He can’t.

“Never again,” Shiro says brokenly, and means it.

Later, much later, when the moon is overhead and Keith’s resting on his shoulder, Keith says he needs to talk to Allura. They’ve spent hours talking about their time apart, learning about how they had become different and their worlds had changed in the past month. Only a month. Shiro’s mind boggles at the enormity of such a small time frame compared to the years leading up to it.

But he told Keith about his time, or lack of awareness of time, in Black, how he had watched him pilot, helped him connect, shushed him when Keith started to cry again for never realizing and unknowingly leaving  _ him _ behind. Tried to suppress his sorrow at Keith’s retelling of his journey, what he saw in the future, his struggle at knowing whether to accept it so the universe is saved, or being selfish and chancing its death.

Shiro guesses they’re on the selfish timeline. He tries to find a regret but comes up empty. If they don’t succeed they’ll burn with everyone else, together instead of apart.

“The hard part,” Shiro says, placing a kiss to the top of Keith’s head, “is getting Allura to not sacrifice herself for the greater good and let us help her instead by finding another way.”

Keith huffs out a laugh. “Like someone else I know?”

“Like several people we know,” Shiro wholeheartedly agrees, not adding that one of them is digging an elbow into his abdomen at the moment and he’s too in love to say anything.

“We have to find a way to stop Honerva,” Keith says, burrowing his face in Shiro’s neck. His nose is cold despite the heat and it does something funny to Shiro’s insides. “I think I can help with what I know but… nothing may be the same, anymore.”

“All we can do is our best, and hope it’s good enough,” Shiro says. “But no matter what happens, we’ll be in it together.”

Shiro feels Keith smile against his skin, and his new heart flutters. He was wrong earlier. This is the gift the universe has given him. Now it’s up to him to return the favor.

“By the way,” Shiro whispers into Keith’s hair, “next time don’t split off from the rest of the group without a communicator.”

He can feel Keith’s groan.

\--

Allura yawns and stretches, wandering into the courtyard as the sky begins to lighten. It feels strange sleeping somewhere she’s not mentally connected, and while the rest has been welcome, she startles awake every couple of hours thinking something is missing only to be soothed by Blue’s presence in the back of her mind.

That’s how she finds herself awake before everyone else, even Coran and the castle attendants it seems. The air is cooler this time of day, so she busies herself banking the still alive coals in the fire pit the Zavohzans had set up for them.

The castle was the only place in the entire city with ceilings high enough to comfortably host their group, so the Zavohzans had turned the throne room into makeshift lodging for them, pulling together bedding and far too much food when they themselves were struggling. Pidge and Hunk are working on that, but it’s remarkable how fast they’ve gone from being indifferently obtuse to rolling out all of the hospitality they know how to offer, and Allura’s grateful for the small comforts of not hunting for her own food for a few days. Lance has taken over that task instead, leading hunting expeditions on the other side of the planet with Coran and Romelle. 

The fire sparks to life and she finds some cushions left over from last night to create a more comfortable seat and continue feeding the fire as it grows. She should be reviewing the latest proposal from Krolia and the Zavohzan council or looking over the battle plans she and Keith had drawn together late yesterday. They only have so much time, every moment counts. They must prepare to go rescue the paladins’ home planet Earth and then… and then, everyone else.

She sighs and moves closer to poke the fire and soak up its warmth as the sky turns pink.

Keith told her, in starts and stops, what he saw while he was trapped in time dilation with his mother aboard the space whale. She didn’t want to believe him at first, but then again he did return taller than he left and she had been strongly assured that neither humans nor Galrans have the ability to change their size at will. It made devastating sense, that everything they worked for would ultimately be undone by her mistakes.

She regrets. She regrets so much. She was so stupid, so naïve, to hold out hope that there was someone out there like her, placing her blind trust in someone with motives to manipulate and use her kindness for their own profit. She was warned of this, repeatedly. It was in her  _ lessons _ . She’s a  _ princess _ .

_ Was _ a princess.

It’s not – it’s not the idea of becoming one with all realities that she’s upset about. It would be appropriate for her to pay the price for her mistakes, as foolish as they were.

No. What stings is she almost lost the home she’s had since she woke up 10,000 decaphoebs in the future. Not the Castle, but the friends she has here with her now. All because she thought Lotor might represent a new home, a better home with someone like her, someone with shared life experiences, when he would have had her friends killed in pursuit of his own ambitions. And now she learns that she’s going to lose them anyway and leave them behind. At least she’ll know they’ll be alright, after she’s gone.

It hurts. She rubs at her eyes and tilts her head up, staring into another alien sky and wondering  _ what if _ as she stares down the knowledge of her fate.

Keith vehemently told her that sacrificing herself was not an option, that they will find another way. But that’s this Keith, the Keith who decided he didn’t like the future they had in store. In another future, Keith said nothing.

“What are you doing up so early?”

Allura startles to find Coran yawning and walking into the courtyard.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Allura says, easing out of the ball she had unconsciously wound herself into.

“Hmm, those cots are rather… short. My back will thank us when we return to the lions,” Coran says and surveys her budding fire with hands on his hips. “Looks like it’s time for a bit of breakfast, yeah? I’m sure I can scrounge something up.”

Allura doesn’t feel much like eating, hasn’t felt much like doing so over the past few days, but she appreciates the gesture anyway for what it is.

“Thank you, Coran. Breakfast would be lovely.”

Coran knows about Keith’s visions. So do the rest of the team. He’d gathered them all after giving her some time to process and voice her thoughts. She still feels like it’s her duty, ending the legacy that her father began. It is the universe, after all. It’s all of her friends’ lives, and the lives of their families. Her friends however vehemently disagree.

Between tears Coran told her not to throw away the gift they’d been given. And how - how can she say no to that? How can she say no to Coran, to her friends refusing to leave her side for an entire day afterward, telling her in their own ways to stay?

Lance had been particularly difficult. By the end of the quintant she was infuriatingly caught between oddly charmed and annoyed at his overbearing care and attention. It became a game to see what she could get him to do before he called her out on it, with Pidge and Hunk snickering behind their hands. He eventually did, huffing with hands on his hips after the fourth impossibly hard-to-find small purple fruit he’d hunted down in Zavohz for her, but was happy because his efforts had cheered her up. He’s so - he’s so  _ exasperating _ . It’s ridiculous.

She fights the knot in her throat at the idea of leaving him – any of them – behind. She thinks she’s prepared to accept whatever happens, but it’s a lot to bear.

As the sun rises the rest of the group wakes up and joins her and Coran around the fire, adding cushions as they take their seats. Coran has somehow sourced another massive breakfast of everyone’s favorite fruits, drinks and shkaan. Krolia had been second to rise and is already pouring over scrolls, tsking at the suggestions from council elders they’d received. Keith is half-awake, leaning heavily on Shiro who looks so content Allura swears he could outshine the suns if he was dared. Hunk’s finalizing plans for fields while wondering if they can take some of these seeds back to earth, Romelle’s picking through their things and commenting on what needs to be done for the day, while Pidge and Lance argue on deaf ears that it’s not their turn to do laundry.

“Look, you and Lance are the last ones up, so based upon that logical rule, it’s your turn,” Hunk points out to Pidge’s great displeasure.

“Romelle banned me from laundry. Besides, do we really need two people?” she asks instead. “Because if not then it’s totally Lance’s turn.”

“Hey!” Lance protests.

“Yes, you need two people,” Hunk says. “Hanging stuff.”

“Fine,” Pidge bemoans.

It’s a lot to bear. But she’s not alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to hansbekhart for the constant encouragement to help this story come to be, sharing my Voltron despair, bouncing around headcanons, and beta-ing this story. 
> 
> You can find me on twitter @appeasethebeast


End file.
